Absorbent articles such as diapers and incontinence guards are worn by incontinent persons to manage body waste such as urine or faeces. They generally comprise two important features: an absorbent structure which absorbs and manages the body waste, and components which keep the absorbent structure in place on the body of the wearer under a range of activities (e.g. walking, sitting or lying down).
Diapers and incontinence guards can be classified according to their structure. Pant diapers resemble normal underwear, and are applied to a wearer by being pulled up the wearer's legs, in the same way as regular underwear. Traditional diapers have front and rear portions which are fastened to one another around the waist of the wearer.
Belted absorbent articles, such as belt diapers, have a belt which is first fastened around the waist of a wearer. Belted absorbent articles are popular with incontinent adults as they can be changed by the wearer themselves while standing up. After fastening the belt, the absorbent structure is then brought between the legs of the wearer and fastened by article fastening means to the belt. In such articles, at least a portion of the waistband of the article only comprises the belt (i.e. the front and rear portions of the absorbent structure are not directly fastened to one another around the waist of the wearer). The present invention concerns belted absorbent articles.
Examples of belted articles are provided in WO 02/05739, WO 06/065177, WO 03/017904 and WO 03/017903.
GB 2 080 093 discloses a traditional diaper (i.e. not a belt diaper) which has strips of tape aligned in the direction of the leg elastics.
Typically, little attention has been paid to the form and/or placement of the article fastening means used to fasten the absorbent structure of a belted absorbent article to the belt. In the interests of simplicity and manufacturing efficiency, article fastening means to date have usually comprised a square or rectangle of material which is applied to the absorbent structure such that one edge is parallel to the front (longitudinal) edge or the transverse edge in the front region of the absorbent structure.
However, the primary forces in the waist and hip region of such belted absorbent articles when being worn are directed from the hip region of the belt inwards and downwards towards the crotch of the wearer (see arrow X in FIG. 2). The article fastening means of the prior art are by no means ideal in such situations, and—under such forces—tend to fold upwards or be uncovered at their lower edges (see FIG. 5). This can lead to problems with poor fastening ability, as the entire article fastening means is not in full contact with the corresponding reception surface. Poor fastening in turn leads to poor fit and the risk of leakage. Furthermore, article fastening means which is exposed can fasten undesirably to the wearer's clothes or bedclothes.
There thus remains a need for a belted absorbent article in which the above problems are addressed in a simple and effective manner.